The Investigation at Hadvar's Landing
Monday, 23rd of September, 1204 The sun rises, and they all come downstairs for breakfast with the Baron. Some shipworkers dump a bucket of saltwater on Kimaris and he shakes awake, he goes to throw more on Aria and she glances up and says "Uh, can you not?" Kimaris and Aria then leave the shipmaster's warehouse, and they both head out to the city. They go to the castle and begina game of gin with the playing cards they stole. Harvey goes to the sawmill by himself, and notices Aria waving her hands around in semaphor. Harvey asks her what she wants. Aria and Harvey swap stories about the past night. Kimaris, Aria, and Harvey decide to all go to the sawmill together instead. Xantham heads to the cemetery to see if anything is going on there. إشراق goes to the marketsquare to chat around with the nobles. Harvey heads to his office in the sawmill, and goes to talk to the rouge he left in charge, Farkas. (Harvey had told him to keep the logging company under control until he was back) Harvey asks him what's been going on in the city, and Farkas tells him that Frenn has stopped all of his criminal activity in order to not get caught. Farkas lets Harvey know that he tried to frame shipmaster Frenn by starting...a...riot. "Well, you're one dumb son of a bitch." Harvey tells him in response. Harvey chains Farkas to a log, and two of Harvey's goons take the log and begin pushing it towards the saw. Farkas is screaming apologies and promises to never do anything again, Harvey stops the saw. He now continues to go about making sure business is in order around the mill. Harvey tells Aria and Kimaris about Farkas, and tells them to take him to Frenn to tell Frenn that Farkas will not be a problem anymore. Aria and Kimaris unchain Farkas and start hauling him towards the dock. إشراق is in the marketsquare, seeing all the shop keepers assessing the damage of the past night. The statue of the Baron has been vandalized and partially destroyed, there is a man in yellow robes observing the happenings. Xantham arrives at the cemetery and meets up with Zer. They are both looking around for clues about the cultists. In the center of the cemetery, there is a large tomb being protected by two very armored paladins. In the far back, the caretakers cottage sits tucked away in the corner. Xantham walks up to the caretakers cottage, and as does Zer. Inside the cottage, they don't see any movement. Xantham knocks on the door, and they hear a rustling inside, a man with white hair and a saggy face opens the door. Xantham asks him if he could ask him a few questions. The man says alright. Xantham asks him for any information on the new laws and the cult in town. The caretaker tells him that the curfew laws don't affect him, and that he doesn't know much about a cult. Zer just listens, and then Xantham asks him his name. The caretaker introduces himself as Melbor, he has worked for the archbishop for many years at the temple. Monday, 23rd of September, 1204 (Late Afternoon) Harvey goes to the Baron's house. Aria and Kimaris bring Farkas towards Frenn, down at the shipyard. They walk into a warehouse, where they ship out the cured meats. Kimaris approaches a worker, with all the swank he can muster, and says "Hi. Do you deal in flesh? Would you be able to direct me towards your leader?" The worker looks up and tells him that the person in charge of the warehouse is right over there. Kimaris tells him he is searching for Frenn, and the worker asks for some gold in exchange for the information. Kimaris weirds the worker out though, and he just tells him that Frenn is inside a boat called The Hammer. Aria dives into some meat, and doesn't resurface for a while. Back at the graveyard, a few hours have passed and Xantham has disappeared. Zer decides to return to the cemetary, he goes back up to Melbor's door. Melbor answers, and asks what Zer wants. Zer pulls out his bone mask and asks if Melbor remembers him. Melbor says he doesn't know what he's talking about. Melbor invites him inside. Zer tells Melbor that Vecna sent him. Melbor asks "If Vecna sent you, why are you here?" Zer says "It's your time." Melbor says "You'll not take me without a fight!" He draws a dagger and charges Zer. Zer sidesteps his attack, and casts a curse on him. Zer's hands glow with dark engery as he draws the life energy out of Melbor. Melbor then takes his right hand and fires purple engery at Zer, but it glances by Zer's shoulder and incinerates a painting behind him. Zer's hands catch fire, and pours flames onto Melbor's body. Melbor drops his yellow robes, and his skin starts to wither into a greenish gray color and his body begins to resemble a skeletal figure, and his eyes go completely black. Melbor growls "You are meddling with a plan greater than yourself, mortal!" He goes to grabs Zer with his skeletal hand, and begins to drain Zer's energy. Zer breaks free from his grasp, but Melbor raises his hands and the room begins to darken steadily. Zer is beginning to have trouble seeing Melbor as he receeds into the shadows. Zer hurls a lance of light into the darkness, and it sticks Melbor right in the chest. The room is alight with the radiant energy. Melbor, enraged, tries to send purple energy towards Zer, misses and breaks a pot. Melbor begins to whisper, and a skeletal hand reaches up from the ground and grabs onto Zer. Zer kicks away the hand and throws another lance of light energy at Melbor, it strikes him straight in the chest and he explodes into shreds of fabric and bones. Zer beings to look around his house. He finds a chest, and inside he finds 20 gold and a leather bound book. Inside the journal, written in Deep Speech are records of the cult's activity. Zer also rolls up the nice oriental rug, and walks out towards the marketplace. إشراق is in the marketplace, and approaches the man overseeing the cleanup crew. He is wearing a funny hat and has a baby lemur named George. إشراق talks to the man, and the lemur, she hears some news about the riot last night. إشراق takes the lemur for a walk in the garden. She asks the lemur his name, but he says he hasn't really called himself anything, and asks her to name him. Harvey is now talking to Baron Adrius, and tells him that Frenn is planning to kill a man. The Baron becomes concerned and tells Harvey to take the finest gaurds and catch Frenn in the act. As Harvey goes down to the docks, he meets up with Zer and tells him to leave the rug outside Baron Adrius's palace and leave a note that says "To Baron Adrius. Love, Harvey" Zer wants some money for this interaction, and Harvey pays him 28 gold. Zer agrees and goes off to deliver the rug. Kimaris and Aria are now down at the ship, The Hammer. Frenn greets them and asks how they are. Kimaris replies, with a burly, yet creamy, deep voice, "We got the job done." Aria interrupts them, and says that the man they have brought is the starter of the riot, as well as the rumors about Frenn. Frenn doesn't want to risk to be caught in the city disposing of Farkas, but Aria tries to convince him to do away with him. Frenn decides it's a good idea to get rid of the man who ruined his reputation. Frenn makes the gaurds chain Farkas up and walk him over to the plank. On The Hammer, Harvey and his gaurds can see Frenn leading Farkas to the plank. The guards then rush towards the boat, to stop the murder. Farkas has regained conciouness and his blubbering and begging as he is pushed further out onto the plank. Harvey and three guards are trying to get through the sailors blocking the ship on the docks, shipmaster Frenn has realized what is going on and is trying to figure out how to aviod being captured by the guards. Another sailor is slowly prodding Farkas off the plank. Harvey uses his loudmouth cone and yells for a sailor to escape and jump into the water, the sailor does. Kimaris goes to kill the sailor prodding Farkas to his death. Frenn sees Kimaris moving, and tries to fire an arrow at Kimaris' feet, he misses. Kimaris curses the sailor, and fires a bolt of purple energy at the sailor. It hits him in the back, and he turns around to fight Kimaris. Frenn yells to his sailors to begin getting the ship ready to sail. Harvey boards the ship, and yells at the sailor Kimaris is fighting and tells him to jump of the boat. The sailor, seeing all of the chaos, jumps off the side of the boat. Kimaris enters the captain's cabin. The other sailors are trying to raise the bridge connecting the boat to the docks, and Aria goes to get off the boat. Harvey tries to tell Frenn to come off peacefully, and so he'll get a lesser punishment. Frenn asks why he should trust Harvey, and Harvey tells him that he has influence with the Baron. Harvey tells the gaurds to back off, and Frenn goes with Harvey and Aria to the Baron's palace. Kimaris, in the cabin, sees wood. Lots of wood. Aria distracts Frenn as Harvey pushes Farkas off the plank. Farkas falls into the water, and the chains drag him to the bottom of the harbor. Zer drops the rug off on the Baron's doorstep, he goes to his room and begins to read the journal that he found. إشراق asks the Archbishop is she can continue to take of the lemur, and he agrees. Aria, Kimaris, and Harvey are at the Baron's house and have brought Frenn. "So Baron, did you get my rug?" Harvey asks. "Yes, it's a really nice rug and I'll put it in my bedroom." the Baron replies. The Baron arrests Frenn and he is taken away to the dungeon. Harvey tells the Baron that Farkas rolled off into the harbor because he fell asleep. The Baron inquires about the cult they've been investigating, and Harvey begins to explain a bit about their situation. The Baron thanks them for restoring his power to the economy, and says he will give them anything that they request. Harvey leaves to go to the bathroom. Leyla tells Aria and Kimaris to go and investigate the cemetary, since he was recently discovered as a member of the cult. Monday, 23rd of September, 1204 (Still Late Afternoon) Curfew is going to fall upon the city in just an hour or two. Zer puts the journal away and goes to talk to the rest of the group, and إشراق has arrived in the main hall. Tootslaepuk arrives at the front gates of the city, and she needs to find a place to stay because curfew sets soon. Tootslaepuk asks where she can find Harvey Goldbersteinowitz, and she heads to the Baron's castle and joins the group in the main hall. Aria heads downstairs to practice killing things on training dummies. Harvey goes into a hallway, and heads to the Baron's Quarters. Harvey walks in and sees a rug in the middle of the room, underneath there is a trap door. Harvey opens the trap door. He climbs down the ladder and finds another trap door, which he tries to unlock. His lockpick breaks, and with a click gas starts to fill the room. He tries to unlock the door again, this time the door above him slams shut and locks. The poison begins to make the room turn fuzzy. Harvey tries to unlock the top door, he unlocks it and escapes. The gaurds enter the room, and asks "What are you doing?" Harvey replies "Lost my way, sorry." The gaurds take him to the dungeon anyway. Kimaris asks the Baron where the wenches are. The Baron is pretty uncomfortable with this asking, but Kimaris still pushes. Kimaris heads upstairs to go to bed, alone. إشراق goes upstairs with her lemur, Charlie, and they both head to sleep. Zer talks to Leyla, and asks her if she can enchant the half-bone mask he has to turn it into a holy implement. She agrees, and Zer goes upstairs to sleep. Tootslaepuk puts on some sexy nightclothes. She goes to the Baron's chamber, and knocks on his door. The Baron answers, and she introduces herself to him. She wanders in slowly, keeping eye contact the whole time. The Baron contined his small talk, but she could tell he was getting flustered. She could see his walls crumbling and she slowly stroked down his toned chest. She started caressing his manly chest hair when her hand landed on his heart. It was beating rapidly and his pupils were dialating. she could smell his scent that was woody and like leather, but something underneath was distincly him. After a night of passionate, intense, steamy, hot love making he fell asleep happy and sated with one arm wrapped protectively around her waist. Tootslaepuk slid out from his arms, and tiptoes over to the rug. She goes down the ladder, and tries to unlock the door. The door unlocks. She jumps down and lands in the treasury room. The walls are lined with torches, and there is a statue in the far end of the room. There are three chests in the center of the room. Each chest has a distinct symbol on it, but is otherwise identical. Tootslaepuk recognizes that the symbols on one chest are Draconic Runes. The chest on the far right has Dwarven symbols on it. The middle chest has Pelor's sigil on it. Tootslaepuk chooses to go and try to unlock the middle chest, it opens. The chest explodes, but she sucessfully jumps backwards. Tootslaepuk opens the Dwarven chest, and the statue animates. The statue is a human statue, and it begins to approach Tootslaepuk. She takes her dagger and tries to stab the statue, she hits it in the knee. The statue raises its hand and smacks her in the shoulder. She runs towards the Draconic chest and opens it up. She finds a journal and a broach, she takes both and runs towards the door. The statue hits her again, and knocks her perpendicular to the door. She climbs up the ladder, but before she opens the trap door she sees a marked rock. She grabs it, and a hollow chamber with a key it revealed. She hides the book and the broach in the chamber, and opens up the top trap door. The Baron and gaurds are waiting outside the door when she opens it. Tootslaepuk makes up an excuse, and begins to fake cry. The Baron yells at her, and send her gaurds after her. Tootlaepuk runs towards the door, and is being chased out of the castle. After a while, she looses the gaurds but is still hidden in the castle. She runs and hides in إشراق's room, she jumps in the covers with إشراق and her lemur. إشراق wakes up, إشراق yells at her to leave. Tootslaepuk tries to get her to shut up, but she threatens to call the gaurds. Tootslaepuk runs out of the room, and jumps into a barrel in the kitchen until morning. Tuesday, 24th of September, 1204 The sun rises, and everyone (besides Tootslaepuk and Harvey) heads down for breakfast. The gaurds are gossiping about the Baron getting laid last night, and many are still searching for Tootslaepuk. إشراق sends Charlie to go and find Tootslaepuk. Tootslaepuk gets out of her barrel, grabs the lemur and runs out of the kitchen. Tootslaepuk asks Charlie to go and find the stashed goods that Tootslaepuk hid away. Charlie goes to tell إشراق what Tootslaepuk wants him to. Charlie gets everything, and puts the goods under a bookshelf in Harvey's room. Charlie goes back to Tootslaepuk and tells her where he put everything. Aria asks Kimaris if he wants to go to the cemetary, Kimaris says "Uh, can you repeat that?" Aria respondes with "Do you want to go to the fucking cemetary?" Kimaris tells Zer and they all go to the cemetary. Harvey tries to bribe his way out of the dungeon. Harvey offers to quadruple the pay the Baron gives the prison gaurd, and the gaurd lets him out. Harvey goes back to his room. إشراق is in Harvey's room, trying to get the stolen goods that Charlie stashed. Harvey tells her to get out but إشراق runs and grabs the stuff, drops it in the bushes where Tootslaepuk is, and goes out into town with her lemur. Aria, Kimaris, and Zer all go to the cemetary. Aria knocks on the caretaker's door, and the door opens by itself. Inside, in the middle of the room there is a pile of bloody, yellow clothes and the back wall is covered in black ash. Inside the wardrob, there are five sets of yellow robes. Noticing that these were robes of Pelor, they decide that the best thing to do would be to go and talk to the people at the Church of Pelor. Tootslaepuk meets إشراق at the marketplace, in a shady corner. Since the banana famine is over, إشراق buys Charlie a banana as a reward for his good work. Tootslaepuk is still wearing her fishy-smelling lingerie. Zer buys a belt, and goes to get it enchanted by the marketplace enchanter. Tootslaepuk and إشراق open up the journal, and read it. It is the previous Baron's journal. The last couple pages of the journal discuss the Baron going to investigate the Bleeding Swamp because of many mysterious hooded-figures disappearing there. إشراق says the next step in this cult investigation should probably be to go to the Bleeding Swamp, إشراق tells Tootslaepuk that this didn't happen and goes to get Charlie's tail dyed. Tootslaepuk realizes that her belongings are still in the castle, stashed in Kimaris' room. She finds Zer, and puts on one of the yellow robes. Charlie's tail gets dyed rainbow, in stripes. Tootslaepuk sneaks into the castle and gets her things back. In the Church of Pelor, Aria goes up and smacks a priest in the temple. "You suck!" Aria says. Aria inquires about any information he knows about the caretaker at the cemetary. The priest directs her to the archbishop in the back for information about the caretaker's death. Harvey goes to buy black-tinted spectales to enhance his poker face. Kimaris is in the marketplace, he asks about shipmaster Frenn, who is being sent off to be sentenced for his crime. Kimaris buys a ring to enhance his arcane powers. Zer rounds everyone up, except for Aria, and they all go to the temple. When they enter, they see Aria going into the back room, and follow her there. They enter a room, a man in yellow robes are facing away from them writing at a desk. There is a very long table at the center of the room, and at the end of the room there is a door with a label that says Catacombs. As they walk in, the catacomb door opens and three figures wearing half-bone masks walk in. Aria raises her sword, swings and misses the first brute cultist. Tootslaepuk hides under the table. إشراق casts a freezing cloud over all three of the cultists, killing one that Harvey had already injured. Kimaris kills another cultist. Zer casts lots of fire everywhere and kills the last cultist. The archbishop is in shock from this crazy encounter. Harvey steals from the priest's chest under his bed. Zer explains the situation, and the Archbishop runs out of the room in shock. He starts calling out names, no one is left in the temple. Zer breaks it to him that they were all most likely cultists. The Archbishop goes to lay down. Zer mysteriously disappears after the archbishop went to lie down. Tootslaepuk has to and handle some administrative duties in the logging company becuase of the new shipment of bananas. The Archbishop returns to the room after recovering from shock and addresses Aria, إشراق, Harvey, and Kimaris. "Thank you heros for aving my life, I honestly don't know what is going on. The Catacombs lead to the Tomb of Brothers but is only accessible by going through the catacombs. If these cultists have found a way into the catacombs, then the path needs to be cleared and destroyed. Would you all go and complete this task?" All of them agree and go into the catacombs. Category:The Cult of Shadows